So my etsy shop is open, with just eight things so far, hopefully more to come this week. I’m overwhelmed. You start one new thing and your focus goes totally there… everything else drops off. It happened when I started blogging, then facebook, now etsy. Etsy is a good thing, but takes so much time to photograph everything well, and to network well. And it’s only going to be a good thing if you do all these things well. I’m finding it to be like all other marketing… it all takes time… time that I never seem to have enough of!

On top of trying to get the etsy shop started last week, the making of pottery couldn’t stop. I shipped out four cremation urns in two days, that rarely happens, and it made me realize how low my stock of urns is. So I made quite a few urns last week, some are quite large… it is physically very tiring. Then there is the whole emotional aspect of making urns, I will have another whole post on that soon.

I have been thinking about this for over a year now, but was so busy working on the new website that it took a back burner. I also thought well, why do I need an Etsy shop if I have a good website with buy buttons and paypal… well the answer is traffic. The other answer is social networking, like this blog, a facebook fan page and twitter (for the time being I refuse to do twitter… I just don’t have that much to talk about… geez, facebook is hard enough). Etsy is just more social networking, there are shops you “heart”, (kinda like “LIKES” on FB) when you heart a shop and other users see your heart they can click on your link and it automatically brings them to your shop! Etsy is its own little world which just keeps getting bigger everyday. So many people peruse though those pages, I figure if I just have a few of my items on Etsy that I sell from my website, it will bring more people to my website where they can find more work!

The pottery that I will be selling on Etsy will focus just on the kitchen, the shop is named FoodieCeramics. It’s in process right now, I’m hoping to have some things for sale by next week. I’ll be posting about the shop opening here! If any of you Etsians reading this have any suggestions for me, please share :)

Here’s the pile-up on my work table, getting ready for Etsy, and a wholesale order.

There were a few years in there between making pots and having babies where I farmed. To survive as a farmer I learned a lot about diversity. Not just to grow one crop, but to grow many, including flowers (lots of them). I learned to stagger my plantings, to have different markets, from wholesale to a CSA, to have chickens for meat, eggs and manure… etc. It was a learning experience I now bring into my pottery.

I laughed today as I photgraphed my tiny little garlic grating dishes. Two days ago I photographed my large 12lb urns. I thought man…. people who look at my blog must think I’m all over the place. Well, in one sense I am. It’s the diversity thing. The different markets… wholesale, retail, studio sales, galleries, web sales, farmers markets. The teaching… classes and workshops. The making… larger sculptural pots, to tiny dipping dishes, teapots, mugs, butter bells. True utilitarian pottery, to pots that sit on a shelf, or at a memorial service for your loved one. The one common thread is that they are all functional even those that hold flowers… (lots of them).

I’m sharing a photo of my finished garlic grating dishes, and another photo of them in process. They are not yet on my website as they are quite new to me. I made my first ones for my May studio sale and I having been making them for the farmers market. I pretty much sell them as quick as I make them. They are a pretty neat item. The bottom of the little dish is a rough surface, (I use a colored slip). You grate your garlic clove on this surface then you add olive oil, salt and pepper and have an instant delicious dipping oil. I hear you can also grate ginger then add soy sauce for a sushi type dip.